Dedication

KTtape for "IT band syndrome" wrap

I'm sorry, but I have to go on a little rant real quick. Lately something has really been bothering me. It's been happening for awhile, but for some reason, I just can't stand it anymore.

Ever since I started losing weight and working out, I've been asked by many, many people "How did you do it?" Not just in that way, but in many sometimes encouraging, sometimes annoying ways...

"OMG, what's your secret?"
"I wish I could lose weight like you!"
"I want to lose weight, tell me exactly what you did."
"Hey, I've really been wanting to lose weight, would you mind telling me what you did and what you ate?"

And the list goes on.

I appreciate the fact that people admire me for losing weight, but I don't appreciate disrespectful people that ask me for all my "secrets" and "tips" and when I go out of my way to explain it, they just say "thanks" and disregard all of my advice.
I can go on all day telling you exactly what I ate, and what exercises I did, and what apps I used, but the one thing I can't teach you is dedication. That is the number one thing you need to do to lose weight; be dedicated. If you're not in it for the long haul, it's never going to happen. You also need to be motivated and I can't tell you how to do that. I can't explain to you how I woke up every day and worked out hard, even if I really didn't want to. I can't tell you how I was able to stick to 1,200 calories a day and avoid bad foods even during events and holidays. I just can't.

This blog is not to anyone specific, but there has just been quite a few people lately that have asked for my help, and when I offer it, I get shot down. If you don't want to do it, don't ask for my help! I don't want to waste my time and energy on someone who doesn't really want to be healthy and get in shape. I'm tired of people's constant excuses. If I made an excuse every time I needed to workout, then I wouldn't be where I'm at today.

All I'm saying is if you want to lose weight... BE SERIOUS ABOUT IT. It's not just a side thing, it's not a phase, or a part time thing. It's a lifestyle. It's something you have to be thinking about all the time. Don't half ass it!

Rant over.

Anyways, it's April 28th and "No Alcohol April" is almost over! Time sure flew by. I'm not going to say it was easy, but it definitely wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. And I did end up going to a lot of events where there was temptation, but I never had a single drop. I even went to the bar a few times and only had water:-)

I'm pretty proud of myself and I'm not gonna lie, I think it has helped. Not only the fact that I haven't been consuming alcohol, but I haven't been drunk wanting to eat all that bad bar food, then I haven't been hungover wanting "hungover food" like Chinese or pizza. Not being hungover has helped because it hasn't interfered with any of my workouts, so I haven't skipped any days because of it.

Of course I look forward to drinking again, but I definitely think I am going to cut back and try to keep it a "social event" thing only. No unnecessary drinks. And when I do drink, I still need to NOT eat any bar food. And remember to drink tons of water!:-)

A new goal of mine that I've been doing very consistently is drinking lots of water. What I do is get a gallon of water at the beginning of the day and drink it throughout the day, finishing the whole thing by midnight! So far I've been pretty good at accomplishing that. I think it helps by making me feel nice and hydrated and also makes me feel kind of full, so I don't eat as much.

I've been eating very well EXCEPT for Thursday night haha. I had a little splurge day, which was a nice treat. Charlie and I went to a Caps game and got to sit in the "Acela Club" which is sooo nice and they have an unlimited buffet of LOTS of delicious food! I tried to be pretty healthy and got salad, vegetables, fish, etc. BUT, the dessert table was irresistible! I loooove sweets, so yeah, I went a little over board in that department! The game was really fun though, and I had a great time!

It's funny, I'm actually more excited for weighing myself in May than I am for drinking. I've noticed a big difference in how my clothes are fitting and I've had a lot of people tell me that I'm looking slimmer! So I'm really hoping the scale shows me something good!

Friday morning I did the National Fallen Firefighter bridge run. It starts around the National Harbor then you run across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge to the VA side, then run back. All together it was 4.41 miles (according to my RunKeeper app) and I finished in 36:30! I was super happy about my time. Out of all the people running, I was the 4th one to finish. Granted, it wasn't technically a race, but in my mind it was;-)

Sooo yeah, everything has been great, I'm feeling awesome, loving life and working hard. I couldn't be happier with how things are going. I don't wanna sit here and brag, but I love my life!:-)

Anyways, if I can, I'll update May 1st with my weigh in, but I work that day so I might not be able to. If I can't, I'll do it on the 2nd. I can't wait to see!

Check back for a (hopefully) epic weigh in!

Anna<3

Juicy, Juicy!

So, it's officially been 1 week since I started "No Alcohol April" and so far so good. I've encountered a few "temptations" here and there, but nothing that made me crave alcohol or anything like that. The hardest part has been trying to explain to people why I'm doing it. It's tough because I really don't have a great explanation. I'm doing it for a couple reasons. To challenge myself, to see if I feel better physically, to lose weight, and that's about it. It's not a bet or a dare, and it's not religious for sure, and I didn't have some kind of terrible experience that made me say "whoa, maybe I should take it easy for a few..." I'm just doing it because!

My version of the "Mean Green" juice

As you can see above, March was a VERY good month for me! I was diligent about working out every day I was off work. There were only 2 days I didn't, and I think they were legit excuses... The day after my birthday (hungover!) and the 27th. I got off work that morning and was super tired. I had planned on working out before getting the tattoo because I knew afterwards I wouldn't feel up to it, but I also had to work overtime that night at 11:00PM so I decided to nap before the appointment instead. I just ate really light that day to make up for it.

Mean Green!

Regardless of the fact that I worked out like a mad woman, and ate pretty well, my weight still hasn't gone down. It's quite depressing, but the fact that I can see my muscles getting bigger and my tone improving, still gives me hope. I'm starting to focus more and more on just eating healthy and getting strong. Before I was more into running and going long distances, which I still do enjoy, but now my knee is interfering with that. Now, I really love the challenge of weights. I like to push myself and see how heavy I can go. It's really cool to see the progress happening in front of your own eyes. I've gone from squatting 180lbs to 230lbs. Bench pressing 85lbs to 115lbs. Doing no pull ups to 3 pull ups... yes, that is an accomplishment, trust me! lol:-)

My eating habits are definitely starting to get back to where they used to be. I'm starting to eat more whole foods again and trying my best to log everything on myfitnesspal. As usual, my only hold up is work. It's the hardest part for me; to deny delicious food at work! As if the meals aren't enough, then I have the temptation of dessert. Random ice cream in the freezer, Oreos at the hospital, Eddie buying me candy lol. It's really tough! But that's why I try to counter it by eating really well on my days off. Still, I don't know if it's enough:-/

My mom gave me a juicer that she didn't want anymore so I gave it a try and it works great. I've been using it a lot! I like that you can get all those fruits and vegetables all at once, in just a cup or two. Pretty much anything you make with fruits in it turns out good, but the original "Mean Green" juice recipe? Not so tasty. I made it the other day. The ingredients are:

• 1 cucumber
• 4 celery stalks
• 2 apples
• 6-8 leaves kale (Australian tuscan cabbage)
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp ginger

The ginger is what makes it gross. Yuck. Maybe without it, it would be ok. At first I didn't have any cucumber or ginger so I substituted the cucumber with grapes and just left out the ginger and that tasted really good! I also prefer spinach over kale. Walmart has these huge bags of spinach and another one that is spinach, red and green chard, and baby bok choy. It tastes great mixed with other stuff!

I like to replace a meal or so with juice, but after my workouts I definitely still prefer a protein shake. Depending on how much time I have I like to use the blender and mix in a bunch of stuff. The ingredients in the picture above are:

Two scoops of vanilla protein powder (100 cals)
1 cup of vanilla almond milk (30 cals)
2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed w/ walnuts, brazil nuts almonds, and Q10 (95 cals)
1 tablespoon of chia seeds (55 cals)
1 banana (110 cals)
1 cup of sliced peaches in 100% juice (100 cals)
6 large strawberries (35 cals)
Total= 525 calories

Kind of high in calories but it has so much good stuff in it! And it makes 2 huge servings so you could just eat half and refrigerate the rest for another workout. Sometimes I'll just do the protein powder mixed with almond milk and mix it in my shaker. Also, the nice thing about my gym is that they have a cafe and they sell all types of protein shakes and they're yummy!

 If you haven't noticed, the weather outside has been AMAZING these past few days! So naturally I've been running. My stupid knee is starting to bother me again. Yesterday I got a knee brace from Dick's Sporting Goods and it seemed to help a little. I also got KT Tape which is kinesiology tape and supposedly helps with injuries and pains. I'm gonna try that next!

Now, time to go out and enjoy this beautiful weather. I'll update later!:-)

Anna